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Monday, January 25, 2010

I am More Than a Number!

When I got my most recent credit card statement, I found a small charge I didn't remember making. Oddly it was dated for Christmas Eve. Hmmm... I checked with my family but they had no knowledge of the charge either. My credit card was not lost or stolen. It was right in my purse where it belonged. What should I do?

I talked with customer service representatives at the credit card company and my bank. I sent an email to the website associated with the charge. Then I had an inspiration. I did a Google search on the website address and the word scam. Uh oh, there were results. I felt sick when I clicked and saw the number of other people who had discovered a similar charge on their credit card statements. I called my credit card company back right away and stopped the card.

Apparently my credit card number had been "compromised". What this means exactly, I don't know. But somehow, someway, someone got access to my number. Whether this was through an unscrupulous salesperson who assisted me with a legitimate transaction or whether this was the result of computer hacking, I don't know.

I do know I felt bad about it. So bad I backed away from being online for awhile. I needed to remind myself of all the situations in my life that require interpersonal interaction. Where I'm known as Sarah and not just a number or words on a screen.

8 comments:

I was wondering why I hadn't seen any posts from you for a little while!

I think that you have a very open and personal blog - you post about personal stuff and you publish pictures of yourself. I've never thought of you as just "words on the screen". Having read your blog for a while I kinda feel like I know you in some small way.

I got my Say What T-Shirt in the post the other day. Thanks! Looks nice and the quality of the material is excellent.

Thanks Jelly.Apparently this company's scam is to put a small charge on someone's card and then if it goes unnoticed, charge up much more. Hopefully, I caught it before too much damage happened. It's just rotten timing with all my recent travel arrangements being made with the card. I've sorted most of that out.I tend to withdraw from family and friends in my real life when I feel upset so I guess it's no surprise that I would act that way online too.Thanks for your sweet comment,Sarah

Oh-no! You too? My credit card was also 'compromised' about a week ago. I posted about it. We later learned that a batch of 5000 or more had been compromised by this same company. Mastercard caught it and reissued a new card ASAP. I don't know how they knew the card had been compromised since no suspicious charges had been billed to us, but I am glad they were cautious about it.

Hi Kim,I had to go back and find your post and reread it. It was very difficult dealing with the credit card company by phone. I was almost at my wit's end with all the menu choices I had to make before speaking with a live person. Then that person couldn't help and told me to dial a different number. Arrgh. I would much have preferred to have an in person chat to resolve the issue. Even if I had to drive a ways, it would have been worth it to me. Anything to avoid the phone, ha.The world has changed. Technology makes transactions so convenient when it works, but when there's a problem, I long for the days of personal interaction.

I remember reading that on Kim's blog also, that is just the oddest thing...this scam.Both, the wife and I feel bad about that happening to you and like you said right when your making all your travel plans.

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